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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒08‒02
twenty papers chosen by |
| By: | Patlolla, Sandhyarani; Goodhue, Rachael E.; Sexton, Richard J. |
| Abstract: | Private sugar processors in Andhra Pradesh, India use an unusual form of vertical coordination. They issue'permits'to selected cane growers a few weeks before harvest. These permits specify the amount of cane to be delivered during a narrow time period. This article investigates why processors create uncertainty among farmers using ex post permits instead of ex ante production contracts. The theoretical model predicts that ex post permits are more profitable than ex ante contracts or the spot market under existing government regulations in the sugar sector, which include a binding price floor for cane and the designation of a reserve area for each processor wherein it has a legal monopsony for cane. The use of ex post permits creates competition among farmers to increase cane quality, which increases processor profits and farmer costs. Empirical analysis supports the hypothesis that farmers operating in private factory areas have higher unit production costs than do their counterparts who patronize cooperatives. |
| Keywords: | Crops and Crop Management Systems,Food&Beverage Industry,Regional Economic Development,Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems |
| Date: | 2014–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6975&r=agr |
| By: | Nguyen, Huy |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impacts of land fragmentation on economic diversity of farm households in Vietnam. To develop the empirical analysis, a model is presented in which the estimated impact of land fragmentation on economic diversification allows for non-neutral technical change. The paper tests the theoretical predictions of this model by providing empirical evidence of the impact of land fragmentation on farm and nonfarm outcomes such as labour supply, profits, labour intensity and productivity. By using different methods aimed at verifying and checking the consistency of the results, we find that land consolidation may reduce farm labour supply, labour intensity, and improve farm profits and productivity. Similarly, it may release more farm labour to nonfarm sectors and increase nonfarm profits. The empirical results show that factor-biased technical change plays an important role in explaining the impact of agricultural technical change on economic diversification in Vietnam. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural technical change, land fragmentation, land consolidation, labour allocation, and elasticity of substitution, nonfarm sectors, and economic diversification |
| JEL: | D13 J22 O3 Q18 |
| Date: | 2014–07–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:57521&r=agr |
| By: | Kanbur, Ravi; Ronconi, Lucas; Wedenoja, Leigh |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cudawp:180090&r=agr |
| By: | Pascale PHELINAS (UMR Développement et Sociétés); Johanna CHOUMERT (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | In the context of the rapid development of the cultivation of genetically modified soybeans in Argentina, we conduct a hedonic analysis of agricultural land values. The main objective is to evaluate the impact of land tenure systems and agricultural practices on these values. Data on 338 parcels, located in the Pampas region, are analyzed. The tenure appears to be a particularly important variable. We find that plots rented either by physical persons or by companies are negatively valued in relation to plots owned. Results also highlight the importance, though not to a large degree, of a diversified cropping pattern compared to soybean monoculture. Soil quality, location of the plots, distance to markets, as well as to the nearest city, were also found to affect land values. |
| Keywords: | Genetically modified soybean, hedonic prices, farmland values, Argentina, tenure |
| JEL: | R3 Q51 Q15 O13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1586&r=agr |
| By: | Gentilini, Ugo |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews key issues in the'cash versus food'debate, including as they relate to political economy, theory, evidence, and practice. In doing so, it benefited from a new generation of 12 impact evaluations deliberately comparing alternative transfer modalities. Findings show that differences in effectiveness vary by indicator, although they tend to be moderate on average. In some cases differences are more marked (i.e., food consumption and calorie availability), but in most instances they are not statistically significant. In general, transfers'performance and their difference seem a function of the organic and fluid interactions among factors like the profile and'initial conditions'of beneficiaries, the capacity of local markets, and program objectives and design. Costs associated with cash transfers and vouchers tend to be substantially lower relative to food. Yet methods for cost-effectiveness analysis vary and need to be more standardized and nuanced. The reviewed evaluations are helping to shift the debate from one shaped by ideology, political economy and'inference'of evidence to one centering on robust and context-specific results. |
| Keywords: | Food&Beverage Industry,Safety Nets and Transfers,Rural Poverty Reduction,Nutrition,Food Security |
| Date: | 2014–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:89502&r=agr |
| By: | Anna Bartczak (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; Warsaw Ecological Economics Center); Michał Krawczyk (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; Warsaw Ecological Economics Center); Nick Hanley (Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews); Anne Stenger (INRA, Laboratoire d'Économie Forestière) |
| Abstract: | Procurement auctions are one of several policy tools available to incentivise the provision of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Successful biodiversity conservation often requires a landscape-scale approach and the spatial coordination of participation, for example in the creation of wildlife corridors. In this paper, we use a laboratory experiment to explore two features of procurement auctions in a forest landscape—the pricing mechanism (uniform vs. discriminatory) and availability of communication (chat) between potential sellers. We modify the experimental design developed by Reeson et al. (2011) by introducing uncertainty (and hence heterogeneity) in the production value of forest sites as well as an automated, endogenous stopping rule. We find that discriminatory pricing yields to greater environmental benefits per government dollar spent, chiefly due to better coordination between owners of adjacent plots. Chat also facilitates such coordination but also seems to encourage collusion in sustaining high prices for the most environmentally attractive plots. These two effects offset each other, making chat neutral from the viewpoint of maximizing environmental effect per dollar spent. |
| Keywords: | conservation auctions, spatial coordination, chat in experiments, discriminatory and uniform auctions, biodiversity conservation, provision of ecosystem services |
| JEL: | C92 D44 Q23 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2014-19&r=agr |
| By: | Evans, Alan W. |
| Abstract: | It is well known that urban expansion is constrained in the UK by Green Belts around the major cities and by other policies. This policy of constraint came into existence after World War Two. The primary driving force at that time was a desire to preserve agricultural land which was perceived to be vital to the nation after the submarine blockade of the war years. This perceived need for agricultural production meant, firstly, that farming was left uncontrolled by the 1947 Planning Act, and, secondly, that it was heavily subsidised, subsidies which continued after the UK joined the EU in the seventies.Things changed around 1980, however. Firstly it was perceived that the drive for increased agricultural production was leading to the loss of some perceived benefits of the countryside as fields were enlarged, hedges removed, ponds drained, etc, and, secondly, that the use of pesticides and herbicides to increase production was leading to a loss of wildlife. Complaints about agricultural surpluses - butter mountains, milk lakes, etc, which led to land being set aside to reduce production meant that there seemed to be no reason to protect agricultural land.The reasons for the policy of constraint changed, however, but not the policy. The perceived need now was to protect the beauty, peace, and wildlife of the countryside.The policy continued to be supported because the British population believes various myths - that half or less of England is rural (not the ninety per cent of reality), or that the UK uses its urban land wastefully (actually it's more efficient than almost all other west European countries).The policies are also supported by the wealthy and powerful. Anyone walking in the London Green Belt will find that the land is mostly used, not for agriculture, but for golf courses and for stabling the horses of the rich.The economic consequences of the policy did not change, of course. These are that land and house prices are high and rising, the latter doubling in real terms every twenty five years, but this too is seen as a benefit by the older population who are home owners.But now the young, excluded from buying homes by the current economic crisis, are taking an active interest. Changes in policy appear to be possible and may take place.We wait with interest. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_274&r=agr |
| By: | Woestenburg, Alexander |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the reciprocal relationship between land value and the negotiated transaction price of land. In a market that is characterized by many inefficiencies we may hold the hypothesis that price does not equal value (Wyman, Seldin & Worzala, 2011). This hypothesis raises the question of how value and price relate to each other. We present a conceptual framework that understands land transaction outcomes through the lenses of their transaction processes. These processes are shaped by judicial boundaries, laws, regulations and actor behavior. We argue that, together, those institutional aspects determine the interplay between land value and price.In order to allow for transactional aspects in land market analyses, this conceptual framework challenges conventional methodologies and data sources and calls for the use of a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches towards land market research.The framework is applied to two Dutch land market segments: the market for rural land and the market for inner city building land. A hedonic price analysis of rural land prices, based on notarial deeds of purchase, shows the institutional richness of notarial deeds as data source for land market research purposes. It shows the greater explanatory power of including transaction characteristics and with that, it sheds a different light on the use of appraised value or transaction price data in hedonic land market analyses (Ma and Swinton, 2012). Next, an in-depth analysis of inner city land transactions reveals that both value and price are determined during the land transaction process. This finding is different from the causal relation we expected; namely that transaction processes cause a land price to deviate from its value.We conclude that the interplay and difference between land value and land price, caused by the institutional transaction context, should be subject to land market analysis, rather than just the focus on price or value.-----Ma, S. and Swinton, S.M. (2012), “Hedonic valuation of farmland using sale prices versus appraised values�, Land Economics, Vol. 88 No. 1, pp. 1-15.Wyman, D., Seldin, M. and Worzala, E. (2011), “A new paradigm for real estate valuation?�, Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 29, No. (4/5), pp. 341-358. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_165&r=agr |
| By: | Lin, Tzu-Chin; Huang, Fang-Hsin |
| Abstract: | Fragmented land ownership is widely believed to be responsible for the difficulties in assembling the contiguous land parcels for a more dense development. In order to acquire a large number of small land parcels, an often excessively-high price needs to be paid, if and only if all the owners finally agree to the price. Even if all parcels are assembled, the soaring land price is to a large extent responsible for a high housing price. It has been therefore in many studies concluded that the fragmentation of land ownership tends to lead to an inert supply of land, and given a strong demand, will subsequently contribute to an elevated housing price.The above arguments seem to fit well into the scenario of Taipei City. Taipei is the capital and largest city in Taiwan, with a density of 9,593 inhabitants per km2 and a growing, though steadily, number of households. In addition, the housing price in Taipei has been overvalued by 38% and 27% compared to the fundamental prices derived from price/income and price/rent relationship, respectively. In order to accommodate the expanding demand for housing, fragmented land has to be assembled to pave way for the later development. In other words, developers will constantly purchase and consolidate small parcels into a larger one in a single ownership prior to the construction of new houses. Despite the theoretical and practical significance, little research has looked into the measurement of land fragmentation and the changes in the degree of fragmentation in the course of building activities. Understanding of land fragmentation is crucial for a comprehension of how land is priced, and how land is assembled and developed. This study examines in-depth the area of Wan-Hwa train station where was developed earliest in Taipei. We analyse the changes in land titles of every single parcel from 1970s through 1990s that cover at least two property cycles. Developers over the course of two property cycles must have engaged in land assembly for their building projects. Borrowed from other research fields such as agricultural productivity and income inequity, we apply Gini Coefficient, Simpson Index and Januszewski Index respectively to measure the distribution of land titles (shares) in this area over time. We will also examine the changes in the degree of land fragmentation within the context of property cycles. It is hoped that through observation of changes in the distribution of ownership on land, how land is assembled and buildings supplied in a city where housing affordability is a daunting problem can be better understood. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_173&r=agr |
| By: | Benjamin Dequiedt; Dominic Moran |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the cost of greenhouse gas mitigation potential of legume crops in French arable systems. We construct marginal abatement cost curves to represent this mitigation or abatement potential for each department of France and provide a spatial representation of its extent. Despite some uncertainty, the measure appears to offer significant low cost mitigation potential. We estimate that the measure could abate half of the emissions reduction sought by a national plan for the reduction of chemical fertilizers emissions by 2020. This would be achieved at a loss of farmlands profit of 1,2%. Considering the geographical heterogeneity of cost, we suggest that a policy implementing carbon pricing in agriculture would be more efficient than a uniform regulatory requirement for including the crop in arable systems. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, greenhouse gas mitigation, legumes, cost-effectiveness |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cec:wpaper:1410&r=agr |
| By: | Wu, Wenjie |
| Abstract: | Over 140 billion CNY (1GBP=10CNY) has been spent between 2000 and 2012 in Beijing on the construction of new rail transit lines. Such massive investment allows me to examine the consequences of transport improvement for land prices nearby new stations. Conventional hedonic techniques for valuing rail access mask the changing nature of geographical links between land parcels and stations induced by rail transit expansions. This paper improves on previous literature by applying a spatial multi-intervention difference-in-difference approach to estimate the heterogeneity in the capitalization effects of rail transit development for residential land uses in Beijing. The results show that residential land parcels that receive increased station proximity experience appreciable price premiums, but the relative importance of such benefits varies over space. These findings lend to support the evidence that public investment has an essential role to play in spurring the spatially targeted land market and provide implications for further land and transport policy making in China. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_340&r=agr |
| By: | Stankiewicz, Christoph Janosch; Linke, Hans Joachim; Pfnür, Andreas |
| Abstract: | By means of urban land use planning and readjustment, land management serves to control the development of settlements in cities. It also provides long-term planning foundations to meet the challenges of climate change. Not least due to these long-term decisions, land management will form the basis for investment in real estate, as real estate has to fulfil climate-relevant demands. Derived from higher-level guidelines, municipalities create individualised approaches towards climate change. These approaches interpret the principles of urban development according to specific starting positions. The article's focus is on to what extent higher-level requirements are met on the binding planning level, which impact these measures have on climate change, and how the underlying decision-making processes work.The cities of Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart will be analysed on the basis of their hierarchical planning system according to the most similar case design. Their formal and informal objectives of plannings and guidances will be compared to the binding values for the projects on the operational level. By means of a quantitative analysis of zone development plans, the different strategies of the cities can be revealed. The quantitative analysis also shows how the trends have changed and what guidelines have a real effect on the owners. Embedded in the Institutional Analysis framework by Elinor Ostrom, a qualitative document analysis and interviews with the municipalities uncover the processes that lead to the observed decisions and explain the motivation for the observed action.Despite having the same objectives, the cities pursue different strategies and set their priorities. Our initial studies show a discrepancy between the goals defined at higher levels and what is actually practiced. It appears that in practice, climate concerns are not given the same importance as they are given on less detailed planning levels. Climate change measures are not used as an authoritative basis for justification of projects, but instead, they merely serve as a supplement which can be used strategically to influence developments.The article outlines which measures of climate mitigation and adaptation from higher-level strategies are incorporated in actual projects and clarifies what status climate change has in local communities. In addition, decision-making processes and motivations which lead to commitment in climate change-specific land management will be revealed. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_208&r=agr |
| By: | Marc Baudry; Adrien Hervouet |
| Abstract: | This article deals with the impact of legislation in the seed sector on incentives for variety creation. The first category of rules consists in intellectual property rights and is intended to address a problem of sequential innovation and R&D investments. The second category concerns commercial rules that are intended to correct a problem of adverse selection. We propose a dynamic model of market equilibrium with vertical product differentiation that enables us to take into account the economic consequences of imposing either Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBRs) or patents as IPRs and either compulsory registration or minimum standards as commercialisation rules. The main result is that the combination of minimum standards and PBRs (patents) provides higher incentives for sequential and initial innovation and may be preferred by a public regulator when sunk investment costs are low (high) and the probability of R&D success is sufficiently high (low). |
| Keywords: | Intellectual Property Rights, Plant Breeders’ Rights, Catalogue, Product differentiation, Seed market, Biodiversity |
| JEL: | D43 K11 L13 Q12 Q16 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cec:wpaper:1411&r=agr |
| By: | Glumac, Brano; Kant, Gijs; Hof, Alfred van 't; Schaefer, Wim |
| Abstract: | Purpose - Dutch municipalities have an important role in the land market. They may act as an active stakeholder in land developments. At the same time, municipalities are entitled to set the land use policies. As a result, Dutch municipalities are the largest land owners present at the Dutch land market. The impact of the economic crisis badly damaged the financial situation of the municipalities due to their large land portfolio. Therefore, it is important to quantify those risks and test new land use policy solutions for the most risky cases.Design/methodology/approach – First, to indicate which municipalities have the highest financial risk, this paper applies a multi criteria analysis with publicly available financial data from each of 67 municipalities in Noord-Brabant region, the Netherlands. Second, 3 relevant cases within the most vulnerable municipalities were selected in order to derive 2 sustainable land use policy and relevant criteria to estimate their application potential. To estimate the importance of the success criteria and rate the potential policies a fuzzy Delphi method is used. Additionally, we distinguish two groups of experts, municipality (13 participants) and independent consultants (15 participants). Fuzzy Delphi technique is considered as an excellent method to gather such diverse panel data since it supports expert diversity in its procedure and calculation.Findings - This paper benchmarks the municipalities with the greatest financial risks and investigates the applicability of sustainable land use intervention policies.Originality/value – First, this paper reveals the severity of the financial situation of municipalities that took the active role in land market. In addition, this paper contributes to the larger pool of possible sustainable land use policies by identifying, structuring and rating the most relevant criteria to test the best applicable policy. For this purpose, we introduced the method that highlights the importance of rigorous procedure for the panel data collection and advances the weighting of the criteria and rating of potential new land use policies. This is of particular importance for the policy makers since the future land use influences the future marketability and cost of a development. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_70&r=agr |
| By: | Lin, Tzu-Chin; Huang, Fang-Hsin |
| Abstract: | Housing price in Taipei has been soaring to an exceedingly unaffordable level. Most critics have placed blame on the demand side for the oversupply of capital seeking investment opportunities. This is certainly true, but also seems to be only a partial explanation. For the high price of a good or asset, demand and supply factors shall both be at play. Several recent studies have repeatedly argued that stringent land use regulations shall be responsible in some US cities for their unsustainably high price of housing. This is a supply-side explanation. We would like to through this article add one more supply-side argument for a high housing price phenomenon, at least for a densely populated city such as Taipei. For a city where land plots are small and land ownership is fragmented, its supply of land is almost bound to be inelastic and slow in adjustment. Housing price is in consequence susceptible to how land is supplied. Difficult as it may be, demand-side problems of housing price might be overcome through monetary or fiscal policies. But what makes this supply-side ownership issue a concern for policy is that any coercive measure to force owners to sell his plot or merge it with others is fairly impractical. We employ Gini Coefficient to measure changes in the distribution of size of sites in Wanhua station areas over time before land development. This study area is where Taipei was firstly developed and redevelopment is now in need. It is found that over time the distribution of site size has become increasingly uneven. In addition, a significant proportion of the large sites came from the merger of small sites. However, this assembly process has taken a period of time longer than a usual economic life of buildings. It is therefore difficult not to conclude that the anticommons in land development is in place and has led to an inefficient use of land, thus a tragedy. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_69&r=agr |
| By: | Evans, Alan W. |
| Abstract: | The idea of tax on the value of land was put forward by Henry George in his book Progress and Poverty. Its influence was great. Political parties were formed on the basis of the ideas it put forward and pressure groups still exist to promote those ideas. But despite this quasi-religious belief in the efficacy of land value taxation it has never been widely adopted. Only two countries in western Europe have any kind of land tax, most have some form of tax on the value of the whole property. The reasons for this would seem to lie in problems of practicality and politics.As regards practicality one country which does whole heartedly apply land taxation is Taiwan. The problem there is that in Taipeh at least very little undeveloped land comes onto the market. Therefore in order to value the land on which a building sits, two valuations have to be carried out. First the value of the entire property has to be estimated. Second, the cost of construction of the building has to be estimated. Deducting one estimate from the other the valuer arrives at an estimate of the value of the underlying land. It is evident that the cost of the valuation is twice as great as if a tax were being levied on the value of the property and the result is less certain.In New Zealand municipalities can choose which form of land or property taxation to use to raise money. This problem of practicality is, one would expect, the main reason why none of the major cities use land taxation. Land taxes are used only in the rural areas, where, it is evident, there is land being sold on the market so that valuations can be made both easily and reliably.The political problem is that levying a tax on land might have been politically popular in the nineteenth century when most of the population rented their homes. A land tax would then have been a form of wealth tax - a tax borne by the rich. But in countries where most of the population now own their own homes a land tax is not going to be popular if it is levied at anything other than a low rate. But if it is levied at a low rate then it will not achieve the economic effects that its supporters believe that it could. Its time has passed. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_272&r=agr |
| By: | Samsura, Datuk Ary; van der Krabben, Erwin |
| Abstract: | The Dutch national government has recently launched a national pilot program to test the effectiveness of urban land readjustment as a strategic tool for urban redevelopment projects. Urban land readjustment has been defined as the consolidation of adjoining plots 'by a government agency for their unified planning, servicing and subdivision with the sale of some of the new plots for cost recovery and the redistribution of other plots to the landowners' (Archer, 1989: 307; cited in Adams & Tiesdell, 2013: 274). Urban land readjustment – similar to the more common agricultural land readjustment, but now applied in an urban context - has been widely adopted both in European countries (but not in the Netherlands) and in Asian countries (Hong & Needham, 2007). In Van der Krabben & Needham (2008) we have argued the theoretical case for applying urban land readjustment in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Adams et al. (2001) have also proposed urban land readjustment for the UK, termed an 'urban partnership zone'.Urban land readjustment can be considered as a type of self governance, based on close cooperation between land and property owners in a certain area. In this paper we present the results of a simulation game regarding the negotiations that will take place between the land and property owners to decide for urban land readjustment. Game theoretical modeling is applied to test under which conditions land and property owners are willing to cooperate in an urban land readjustment project.ReferencesAdams, D., Disberry, A., Hutchinson, N. & Munjoma, T. (2001) Managing Urban Land: the case for urban partnership zones, Regional Studies, 35: 153-62.Adams, D. & Tiesdell, S. (2013) Shaping Places; Urban Planning, Design and Development. London: Routledge.Archer, R.W. (1989) Transferring the urban land pooling/readjustment technique to the developing countries of Asia, Third World Planning Review, 11: 307-31.Hong, Y. & Needham, B. (eds.) Analyzing Land Readjustment; Economics, Law and Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.Van der Krabben, E. & Needham, B. (2008) Land readjustment for value capturing: a new planning tool for urban redevelopment, Town Planning Review, 79: 651-671. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_147&r=agr |
| By: | Floegl, Helmut; Ipser, Christina; Geissler, Susanne; Mötzl, Hildegund; Radosch, Ulrike |
| Abstract: | The objective of the research project LEKOECOS is to quantify the environmental and economic resources consumed by a building during planning, construction and in the utilisation and operation stage. The complexity of the utilisation process over the long life span requires a calculation model with well-orchestrated normative definitions and idealisations. The presented environmental-economical model is based on the life cycle costs model LEKOS, developed by the Danube University Krems, and the environmental assessment software ECOSOFT by IBO. A new consistent model architecture was built up in order to synchronise the different characters of the environmental and economic resources of the building along its life cycle. This new architecture enabled a holistic consideration of the consumption of the environmental resources from elements as well as from services over the whole life span.Purpose of the system integration is a combined economic and ecological life cycle model for buildings, realised in an easy-to-use tool for the evaluation of life span resource consumptions at different stages of the design process. In addition specific life cycle resource consumption parameters are defined. This allows to compare the environmental and economic impact of different building types of different sizes and of different planning variants. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_258&r=agr |
| By: | Bartekova E. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to examine the supply risk of rare earths and its impact on low carbon technologies deployment. Bringing together seemingly disconnected strands of scientific literature, this multidisciplinary approach allows to provide an overarching overview of the economics of rare earths. In terms of supply risk, as opposed to the common belief, it is not Chinas dominant position per se, but its industrial policies which distort the rare earths market. On the demand side, the results of this paper disprove the widespread allegation that availability risk impedes deployment of offshore wind. Contrary to this, a potential supply shortage of rare earths would disrupt the further development of the automotive industry and its electrification. Ultimately, uncertainty about volatile prices and threat of supply shortages induce manufacturers to shift away from technologies containing rare earths, and thus render innovation in these economically nonviable. |
| Keywords: | Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms; Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Other Nonrenewable Resources; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives; Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation: Demand and Supply; Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation: Issues in International Trade; Alternative Energy Sources; Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling; |
| JEL: | L11 L72 O31 Q31 Q37 Q42 Q53 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014043&r=agr |
| By: | Siniak, Nikolai; Saltykou, Kiryl |
| Abstract: | Belarus has preserved its third position in Registering Property in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2014 report. Constant improvement of property registration procedures has allowed Belarus to achieve that. The Registering Property indicator takes into account three factors: the number of procedures required to transfer rights to property, the time spent on completing all the necessary procedures and the cost of procedures. From â€?The Earth Summit“ in Brazil 1992 sustainable development recognized by almost all societies as one of the major global goals. In a broad sense it’s incorporates economic, social and environmental concerns in decision making for development which thereby should meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Till nowadays sustainable development continued to be a driving force in land administration, which is about processes of determining, recording, and disseminating information about the ownership, value, and use of land, when implementing land management policies. UN-FIG Bathurst Declaration, 1999 established a strong link between land administration and sustainable development, outlines its significance in poverty reduction, social, environmental and economic development. The article provides basic innovative approaches on land administration in the Republic of Belarus, discusses main sustainability issues and challenges to resolve in a forthcoming period to meet the international trends in cadastral reform. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_214&r=agr |